Welcome back. Another mind bending season where we face that most bittersweet revelation. Tonight is the Mr. Robot season finale and that inherently means two things. They are going drop something huge and connect dots, and next week we will be without new Mr. Robot episodes.

The previous episode recap ends the same with this episode begins. Tyrell in a black Suburban saying that ‘they’ are supposed to be allies and Tyrell needs to be involved. In the episode recap, Tyrell is talking to Dad/Mr. Robot, in tonight’s episode, Tyrell is talking to Elliot. It should be noted that Rami Malek’s acting in that little scene is just brilliant. Its the first time we see Elliot as Mr. Robot and he channels his inner Slater to do so. The interesting detail with this is that this parallel is another in a long line of subtle hints that blur the line of where Mr. Robot ends and Elliot Alderson begins. Tyrell is confused and in so plays the “I know your dirty little secret” card. What follows is brilliant.

Tyrell: Aren’t you forgetting? I know your dirty little secret. There are people close to you who would not be happy if they knew what I know.
Elliot: We’re both too smart to let petty differences dictate our actions. Weigh the pros and cons. Do what you’ve gotta do. Soon as the tabulations are over with, you’ll know that telling anyone about this does neither one of us any good. In fact, you’ll realize, the only thing to do in your position, is nothing.

Tyrell Wellick is completely lost with Elliot’s responses. Tyrell recites a poem. A poem his father used to recite to him as a child. Tyrell keeps that as a reminder of what not to become.

Wellick escorts Elliot down into this building. The inside of this building is barren, gloomy and a waste of time. Tyrell keeps speaking to Elliot as if he should recall the details. While Inner Elliot maintains that he has no recollection of setting up any of this. There is a nice redirect though. Elliot brings up Joanna, she’s been looking for Tyrell. Tyrell’s reaction is to accept that we do what is required. Tyrell sits at a terminal as he confirms that their partners, The Dark Army, set all this up. Including but not limited to the collection of UPS’s (uninterrupted power supply). Tyrell enters a password and Elliot stares blankly at what exactly it is they created.

Inner Elliot: They’re planning something. Mr. Robot, Tyrell, Dark Army and White Rose are all in cahoots to plan something big. And the worst part? They all think it’s me. They all think I’m the ring leader. The one in charge. And I have no idea what it is.

Darlene sits in the corner of an interrogation room. Dom and her boss sit across from her. Dom’s boss goes bad cop on her citing the Patriot Act and equating Darlene to an ‘enemy combatant’. Dom asks for a moment alone.

Joanna visits Mr. Knowles after Elliot discovers the coordinates of ‘Tyrell’s’ phone. All the gifts, the subtle reminders and even the sonogram was intended to create the sense that Knowles had the night they celebrated his promotion. On a day when it should’ve had it all, all was taken from him. His wife was killed who just so happened to be carrying their unborn child. Knowles loses it and breaks down emotionally. Joanna approaches him softly. There is a moment it feels like forgiveness is around the corner. We just forgot that Joanna is still Joanna. Like a flipped light switch she turns on him. I will not repeat the dialogue but suffice it to say Joanna thinks Knowles is a coward. She eventually crossed a line. Describing the remains of his unborn child and Knowles goes off. Pummeling her face repeatedly. Now we know Joanna has a pension for taking pain she wants to take. But this feels like a bigger agenda.

Dom and Darlene go round and round. Dom is very convincing that she ultimately is on Darlene’s side. Darlene let’s her speak but with no real intention of revealing anything. Sadly, last week was the literal demise of Cisco. And whether that was her intention, Darlene uses that to her advantage. Eventually, Darlene in so many words tells Dom to shove it. Dom leaves the room only to return with the camcorder that recorded the FSociety videos, the FSociety mask, and the missing bullet casing.

The big thing Tyrell wanted to show was the schematics of a building. The Dark Army gave them access to a building that is literally within striking distance of the Evil Corp building that has all of the paper documents they plan to use to rebuild the financial database. Tyrell begins to explain the details, but when he says “when our Malware executes” that’s all Elliot needs. He connects the dots on his own. The malware was designed to corrupt the UPS devices. Done just right the UPS gives off carbon dioxide. Then the malicious firmware re-engages the UPS’ auto transformer to create a spark and ignite the now building filled with carbon dioxide gas. A building sized bomb. They will wait until all of the paper documents are delivered to this Evil Corp location, then they will blow up the block. Hopefully, taking all of the paper document down in quite literally a blaze of glory.

Meanwhile, Joanna returns to her boy toy freshly beaten and he decides to do the manly yet very immature thing of beating the guy up. Now Joanna wants Knowles punished, but the kid is thinking too small. I also love that in 2016 there is a grown man who still has a Tom Cruise Cocktail poster hanging up in his residence. His first mistake is agreeing that he indeed wants to hurt Knowles for this. That’s all Joanna needs to execute her amended plan. Originally it was assumed the bar tending boy toy was strung along to eventually hang Mrs. Knowles murder on and clear Tyrell’s name. Now it seems there is a detour in that plan that results in Knowles going down for the murder of his wife, thus also clearing Tyrell’s name. In theory.

Alone with Darlene, Dom tries to level with her. And not in that good cop/bad cop way. After revealing to Darlene on some level that Dom is not as put together as it seems and is actually quite a train wreck away from work, she offers to show Darlene something. No cuffs, no extra security, just Dom and Darlene walking through a sea of Feds all of which know exactly who Darlene is. They walk in to a large room alone. 95% of this part of the scene has us looking at Dom and Darlene but not what they are looking at. Presumptively its a large board with suspects and drawing lines connecting them. Dom explains how getting the person in the middle was key and they would not be able to do that if they came out ‘guns blazing’. Instead they adopted the ‘python approach’. Essentially, let the suspects think they are safer than they are. Darlene starts following this relative flow chart. Cisco. Ollie Parker. Gideon. Angela. Susan Jacobs-The Evil Corp Lawyer. Romero. Mobley. Darlene. Do the remaining math. Who’s left? What should the order of power be? Elliot or Tyrell? Tyrell or Elliot? According to the FBI, the man in the middle is Tyrell Wellick.

Elliot: Why is it so important for you to torment me?

In the strategically located building, Inner Elliot tries to put this all together. Then there is an explosion from actual Elliot. Elliot sees Mr. Robot and Tyrell Wellick in the same place at the same time. Something that should not be physically possible. Then there is the connection that someone had to make a deal with the Dark Army and since Elliot can’t remember any such deal, it must have been Mr. Robot. Mr. Robot tries to bring it back around with the, “You’re me and I’m you” thing but Elliot doesn’t slow for a second. The wheels begin to turn down a direction that will prove to be reckless. Yet without the foresight to see it, Mr. Robot tries to deflect that he has only been doing what Elliot wanted in the first place. Mr. Robot also reveals the thing we’ve all be operating under. And that is that Elliot is only supposed to know as much as he can handle. Remember the “I just wanted to take the punches for you”?

The conversation is far more relaxed than it should be considering the context. Elliot’s paranoia is beginning to grow. He believes Mr. Robot is distracting him from Tyrell’s efforts. Its true but still, the wrong wheels are turning in Elliot’s head. Elliot jumps into Tyrell’s chair once he leaves it. Elliot plans to not only delete the malware, but close the back door. Something that would absolutely derail everything they’ve done to this point. Tyrell reaches back for a gun. The same gun that Elliot pulled out of the popcorn machine that Darlene gave him earlier. Elliot, presumably when he was Mr. Robot explained that if anyone tries to impede their plan, to kill them. Well Elliot is impeding their plan.

Elliot stands to face Tyrell gun drawn. There is a standoff as Tyrell justifiably has no earthly idea why Elliot has made the proverbial u-turn. While given many opportunities to see just how quickly this could turn volatile, Elliot stands firm. Remember those wrong wheels turning, here is your “there is no spoon” moment.

Elliot: You’re the same.
Tyrell (yelling): WHAT THE _____ ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!
Mr. Robot: We are definitely not the same.
Tyrell: Back away from the computer.
Inner Elliot: This is just another of Mr. Robot’s mind tricks.
Elliot: No.
Tyrell: Elliot, I don’t want to shoot you but I will.
Mr. Robot: Elliot, listen to him.
Elliot: He’s not holding a gun. He’s not even there.
Mr. Robot: Elliot! Step away from the computer.
Tyrell: You touch that keyboard and I will shoot you.
Elliot: No. (Steps forward) He won’t. He can’t. He doesn’t exist. I’m the only one that exists. It’s finally time to take back control. Real control.

Elliot starts retreating slowly towards the computer. He doesn’t get halfway there before discovering there very much is a spoon. As promised, Tyrell shoots Elliot. His delusions seem to melt away. Also perhaps a foreshadowing note visually. One of the overall themes of this show is how does Elliot rid himself of Mr. Robot? Elliot suffering from a gun shot wound allowed the show to go all Back to the Future II. We see Mr. Robot flickering in and out. It’s not how I would want it to end, but if Elliot’s light goes out, so does Mr. Robot’s.

(Angela’s LAN Line Phone rings)
Angela: Tyrell are you there? It’s okay, they told me you’d be calling, this is a secure line. Are you with Elliot right now?
Tyrell: Yes.
Angela: Okay, don’t let anyone near him. I should be the first person he sees when he wakes up.
Tyrell: Okay.
Angela: Tyrell, you did what needed to be done.
Tyrell: I love him.
Angela: I do too.

Courtesy of the Markiplier Youtube Channel

::Credits::

A car drives through a Fry’s parking lot that appears to be Arizona, New Mexico or a less populated portion of California. Outside are two Fry’s employees on a break. Those employees are Mobley and Trenton. Trenton wants Mobley to consider her idea. We never hear the idea, but understand that Trenton believes it can undo the Five/Nine hack. With impeccable timing, a familiar face emerges just before Mobley gives any real consideration for Trenton’s plan. That face belongs to none other than Leon. Now my colleague and partner here at NJATVS, Jeff Sack, offers up the perfect analogy to who Leon really is. Leon is “The Wolf” (Harvey Keitel) but in reverse. Instead of The Wolf coming in promptly to clean up the mess, Leon arrives timely to prevent the mess in the first place.

Trenton: Please, just look at what I found.
Leon: Excuse me…?
Mobley: Sorry, we’re on a break.
Leon: Yeah, I just had a quick question. Do you have the time?

For the first time in a long while, Elliot opens up to the idea that perhaps Mr. Robot is the key to everything. Elliot recalls a story from middle school. When taking a Visual Basic class, he found there was a technique that would allow his to keep studying. Just recite the mantra, mind awake. Mrs. Wellick seems intrigued by the opportunity that has presented itself care of Elliot. The location coordinates of the cell phone believed to belong to Tyrell Wellick shows up (at what I postulated might be Mr. Knowles’ home)

Dom gets run through the police policy following a shooting. She finds this unnecessary waste of FBI resources.

She also discovers the news that the Chinese extended Evil Corp a gift. A financial bailout to the tune of 2 trillion dollars. Dom’s boss even concedes that it’s over. The bailout is the gift everyone has been waiting. China just saved the economy. They will get away with it.

Angela is taken to an undisclosed location. All the while trying to persuade her captors to let her go. Inside is one of the strangest scenes i’ve ever seen. A young girl walks in, sits at a computer, inserts a 5.25″ floppy into an old C: drive. Then the girl starts asking very strange almost unrelated questions. Shortly after the assessment, a new figure emerges. Its White Rose.

There is a rather strange scene with Dom and Alexa. The depression is becoming more than Dom can handle. She seeks comfort from an interactive piece of electronics that has limited question and answer combinations.

White Rose remains cryptic. But in the end, this was all just a test given to Angela. White Rose wants to see the drive and why Angela wants what she wants so badly. That and to discover why Phillip likes her so much. Then that leads into the drawn connection of Angela and Elliot, insinuating that the catalyst for all of this was the Washington Township plant. And furthermore, her mother and Elliot’s father died for a ‘greater good’ reason. White Rose plans to show Angela exactly why she needs to drop her mission.

White Rose: You are at the center of all of it…

Elliot wakes from his trance to find Mr. Robot in his apartment. It’s as if the roles have been reversed. Now Elliot appears to be the silent passenger. Mr. Robot is doing things while Elliot stands over Mr. Alderson and not the other way around. Mr. Robot looks over a BBQ food pamphlet with writing on it. It’s a cypher. Elliot and Mr. Robot work independently to crack the cypher.

There is a knock at the door of the Washington Township lawyer’s home. She was concerned after not hearing from Angela. Angela stands before her as deadpan as a robot (pun intended). Angela is there to tell the lawyer to stand down and not to contact Angela again.

The cypher takes Elliot/Mr. Robot to a swap meet. Elliot and Mr. Robot arrive separately but they are on the same hunt. Eventually the side door of a taxi van opens and the driver only knows two English words. “Elliot?” and “Address?” Elliot is very confused. He eventually gets in but then does not have an answer for “Address?” Then the moment we’ve all been waiting for.

Tyrell Wellick enters the taxi van using the other sliding door.

Elliot has no idea what on earth is going on right now. Elliot is unsure of what is real and what is not. Since he finds no answers he gets louder and more indignant. Demanding to know if the non-English speaking taxi driver if he sees the man sitting next to Elliot. Eventually both Elliot and Tyrell are kicked out of the van.

Tyrell: Now what was the meaning of that? Now you’ve been under a lot of stress, but I’ve been under a lot of stress too. Can you imagine what it’s been like for me? We can’t talk out here, we’re exposed. Come on.
Elliot: Where?
Tyrell: Enough with theses games, We’re close. Have you forgotten everything? The Dark Army told me phase 2 is ready, when you see it, you’ll be pleased. It worked Elliot, it’s up to us now.

Welcome back to our game, Terry Colby. Terry meets with Phillip Price. Terry shows off his book and Phillip needs Terry to do him a favor. That’s about where the logic and my attention span drops off. Something about gifting Africa to the Chinese. Terry almost takes the request at face value but stops short. He must know what the motivation is. What makes a man move countries like pieces on a chess board. Phillip’s answer is simple. Phillip Price must be the most powerful man in any room and if you can’t leave a legacy that rivals that of God, it’s not worth mentioning.

At the conclusion of last week’s episode Elliot walks up on Tyrell’s SUV. Mrs. Wellick is in the vehicle. She addresses Elliot at Ollie, escorts them inside where she all but demands that Elliot find Tyrell. Assuming that he’s even still alive. Mrs. Wellick wants Elliot to help with tracking the calls coming into the burner phone. Elliot declines. She, in her scary way, approaches Elliot slowly, seductively to suggest that no one says no to her.

Cisco brings back ‘Vincent’ the guy in the beginning of the season that almost posted a pic of him holding the bull of wall street’s unmentionables. Darlene put him in the lead of a task he probably wasn’t supposed to return from. He can’t speak and Cisco is freaking out. Darlene pulls up his shirt to search for a tracker only to discover, his entire torso looks like it bleeding from the inside out. Darlene has gone completely around the bend. She won’t drop him off at an ER because eventually he will come two and she can’t risk him talking. Cisco sees the nothingness in her eyes when she said that and fires back. Suggesting that Darlene is not a leader and needs to stop acting every mistake was just part of the plan.

Dom arrives on scene at the smart house. One of the feds hands her a photograph of the person they believe was in the house tonight and is a person of interest in Dom’s ‘code-name’ case. Dom is confused and a little upset with the handling of this asset.

Elliot and Dad sit in the back seat of Wellick’s SUV driven by her driver/bodyguard. Dad wants no part of it. Elliot just seems intrigued by who is pretending to be Tyrell. No other conclusion is logical as Elliot believes he killed Tyrell Wellick.

Dom returns to her superior to make her argument. The feds are acting like this is any other criminal element. Dom is the only one who knows they cannot proceed that way. The photograph, and its the second from a second and different witness, is that of Cisco. Her boss decides to put out a bolo on Cisco. Dom tries to argue this needs to stay quiet. If his identity is made known, the Dark Army will surely kill him.

Elliot convinces the driver that whatever he plans to do for Mrs. Wellick (tonight) he requires hardware and that will require a stop. At Micro Center. He begins pulling items including what I believe is a $1900 Alienware laptop. Then the burner phone rings. He answers it and looks around. There was breathing but no image. All of a sudden, Elliot is literally alone in Micro Center. Not even Dad is present.

Elliot returns to his apartment with Mrs. Wellick’s driver and begins cracking into his new stuff. This is all set to a storytelling moment from Darlene about how she was never special, but Elliot was. A story about when they went to Coney Island as a family. Elliot went with Dad and Darlene somehow got lost. Lost and then kidnapped. A notion child Darlene did not fight against. She actually got in the car voluntarily, knowing something was wrong. Young Darlene didn’t view this as a kidnapping. She viewed it as a new start with a better family. It was a dream for her for a day. The next day the cops raided the home to rescue Darlene. And now, Darlene’s inner conflict is what life would have been like living with that woman or not having Elliot.

Elliot decided that instead of hacking the cell carrier, he would just follow policy and procedure and ask the carrier to trace the blocked call. With the fax sent Elliot and the driver are in a holding pattern. The driver decides to shoot the breeze. Elliot uses this opportunity to tune him out and talk to Inner Elliot. Why was Dad so spooked with that phone call? Why is he suddenly scarce? Elliot thinks the answers to those questions might manifest themselves in his apartment. That’s all Dad could talk about at Mrs. Wellick’s home. He even asks Inner Elliot to take a look, see if he can find out what that is.

Elliot makes the call. Impersonating a NY Police detective. Elliot follows the procedure and gets the information he’s looking for. Most importantly, the coordinates of the originating phone that made the call to Mrs.

Wellick’s burner. In short order, Elliot has the location and residence of that phone. The driver stands up and his reaction is not great. He knows this location and is all too displeased to know that this is the location of the phone. (My gut instinct is that the location in question is that of Mr. Knowles-Just to mess with Mrs. Wellick).

The feds break in the door of an apartment and scour its contents. Dom discovers a security badge with Cisco’s picture and one must assume, his real name. The feds issue a bolo on Cisco and the Nurse tending to Vincent’s injuries, who has absolutely seen Cisco up close sees the news bulletin. While Cisco and Darlene grab something to eat at Lupe’s, they have no idea the feds have already questioned Vincent’s Nurse.

Elliot spent most of the night ignoring Angela’s many text messages with the urgency that they meet immediately. Elliot now finds Angela on a subway train. He apologizes for taking so long to get back to her. She appears dazed as she often does when she’s struggling with something heavy on her mind. She gets to the point abruptly.

Dom speaks to the Nurse again after her boss went full FBI Leadership and assumed the lead was dead. The news wasn’t on in the ER until after Cisco and Darlene left. They have no reason to think something is afoot. They’re coming back, but Dom is going to search the area to see if she can get the jump on them.

Angela will confess. She is on her way to meet with her lawyer. She won’t burn Elliot or Darlene, but sooner or later she believes this will all make its way back to Elliot. All because she believes something that Elliot does not. That FSociety cannot possibly beat Evil Corp. Elliot is now beginning to see that while he was locked up physically and bound in a construct mentally, everyone else was busy taking risks.

Elliot is genuinely having an emotional conflict. He doesn’t want to leave her. They share a friendly hug and then Elliot goes in…for the kiss that is probably like 15 years overdue.

Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

Angela is able to have the long look. When she comes back to center there are two bodies watching. A black male and white female. Their stature suggests two people of an ‘official’ capacity. Did Angela just set Elliot up the way Ollie tried to set Angela up? If she did, she’s dead to me.

Dom finally makes her way to Washington and 6th ave. The corner where Lupe’s Diner is. She makes a b-line for the couple sitting by the front window. You don’t have to be a big movie/tv viewer to know what happens next. Two riders riding tandem on a crotch rocket motorcycle approach. The one in the rear jumps off holding what looks like an automatic gun of some sort. As predicted, the Dark Army will not permit one of their own from becoming known to law enforcement. Luckily Dom is positioned to the gunman approach. Also doesn’t hurt that she called in all units to her location before going in.

The gunman shoots up the diner but it appears not all that efficiently. The rider still on the bike takes off. Two NYPD cruisers pull up on the gunman. It doesn’t take the gunman long to turn his weapon on himself. As the assailants did in the FBI hotel in China.

Welp! I was wrong. Dom walks out of the diner signaling to the NY’s Finest that she is FBI. By the time she gets across the street and in focus of our lone camera it is obvious that she’s been splattered with someone else’s blood.

During processing, Elliot is still almost catatonic mixed with a pride in his own work. And if you didn’t see it coming, Ray’s goon is one of the guards checking him in. Should’ve seen that coming two weeks ago. CRAIG ROBINSON IS THE WARDEN. I knew he would be there, had no idea he was the warden. Kind of makes that website story line even worse, assuming the website isn’t a metaphor for something yet to be divulged. This is like watching Shawshank Redemption on peyoti. On their way out to the yard, Leon stands in front of Elliot rambling. Incident, trial, conviction all in 24 hours. Which we all know is not accidental or the product of unfair practices. Leon was planted there to watch over and protect if necessary, Elliot. Go back to the almost white supremacists rape scene. “Tell White Rose I had you”.

The artistic effect here is wonderful. We still see Leon leaning back on the bleachers watching the basketball game. But as if the Wizard has gladly pulled back the curtain. As it turns out Leon was binge watching Mad About You before diving head first into Seinfeld. Leon gives him the rundown and it doesn’t take long for anyone with a brain stem to see Leon as Ellis Boyd Redding. In here, Leon is the guy who can get it for you. He’s a regular Sears and Roebuck. All Elliot asks for is a notebook, and we know what that was for.

As the flashback ends, we find Darlene there to pick up Elliot from jail, complete with a brown back with french fries. She then whispers something in his ear that we don’t hear. Meanwhile, Angela is pulling the whole, “I have to hand deliver this sensitive information” angle. This creates a distraction long enough for Angela to plant her usb drive. She copies login credentials and then downloads that sensitive information hinted to earlier. Lovely that the imagery of a poster behind Angela that reads, “Risk Ahead”.

Darlene accompanies Elliot on the train. They attempt to lose what they think is a tail. Elliot has to make a stop. The stop is to visit his mother. She doesn’t live in a dark home that we assumed despite that home being the mental construct for the jail he was in. He makes small talk and she is reluctant to speak. He thanks her for her not involvement but still assistance in helping him survive the last few months. He leaves and she never says a word.

White Rose and assistant visit a grave site. White Rose’s reverence in this moment is an illusion. The grave belongs to the previous E-Corp CEO who attempted to sink White Rose’s “Project”. And he is where he belongs. Then she turns around, squats, and urinates on his grave.

Elliot revels in the benefit of using the bathroom in private. While that seems to be enjoyable, you can’t help but notice Cisco and Darlene yelling it out. It all seems so ‘normal’ until…Dad enters the argument. The wonderful part about this show is that moment when you are perfectly at ease with what you think you know. Then, something happens that makes you question all of it, for as long as you keep the episode paused.

Then you ‘un-pause’ it and proceed to cuss at your television. Dad slowly turns his head to face Elliot and his head/face start glitching in and out between being the head of Dad that we think we know and that of Elliot. Insinuating that the line that divides Elliot from Dad (or his inner conflict with himself) becomes blurry. Now the Elliot standing in the door is no more. Elliot snaps back into it and asks for Cisco’s Dark Army contact. Before Cisco washes his hands of the is whole thing, he gives it to Elliot on paper.

Cisco (hesitates then hands the paper to Elliot): I hope you’re more reliable than your sister.

Afterwards, Elliot sits across from Dad and asks what happened. Elliot was acting relatively normal, then he stopped responding. Like packet loss and Dad stepped in to speak for Elliot some sort of backup connection.

White Rose meets with Price. Small talk to begin. Then as White Rose begins to take this conversation in a positive direction, Price drops the bombshell that eminently, the US Government will control the Washington Township plant. News that does not find White Rose well at all. Price lays out an idea where White Rose goes to the Chinese government to secure Price the money they need and didn’t get from the US Bailout that didn’t happen. White Rose responds favorably, but the last part of that response tips us to the recurring idea that the bigger picture issue at play here may be much larger than we have considered to this point.

White Rose: I will go to the Chinese government, and I’m sure they will be most agreeable. But the next time you threaten my plant…
Price: What…? What? The only move left in that scenario is a third world war. You see, I’m a mercenary. I don’t play fair. I play what I want. So you can have your cute little threats and your watch beeps, order will not save you. I will rain down chaos…even if it hurts me. I would rather see you lose than win myself.

Elliot uses the Dark Army contact from Cisco to hack that contact. His name is Xun. Dad begins to feel off. Like an equilibrium thing if he were still human. He thinks they (Elliot and Dad) are overheating like an overworked computer. He lays out that they will now have to meet this contact. Accessing the contact’s phone mic is not enough. Darlene thinks this is a we situation. We are going to meet this contact. Elliot makes it very clear that Darlene won’t be going. This contact is going to meet Mr. Robot…er…me (Elliot). As improbably as it may seem, nothing is off the table. Elliot and Dad are absolutely acting like a malfunctioning computer. And at this point, I’m not rejecting anything.

Angela meets with an agent from the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Its starting to come together. I’m just going to throw this out there without any certainty that his idea is fleshed out or even plausible. Angela’s mother died working in a plant that dealt with Nuclear elements and Evil Corp financed and produced nuclear weapons for China. Again not fleshed out, just shooting from the hip. The toxicity levels of nuclear radiation in Washington Township. Angela is going full whistle-blower.

On an almost empty subway car Elliot stands up and walks to the back of the car disregarding the old man annoyingly assaulting a mini electronic keyboard. He sees himself on the other car away from Cisco and unable to get his attention. All just a day-dream though. Elliot and Cisco arrive at Xun’s library (meeting place). Xun is accompanied by his kabuki mask wearing lackeys. Due to their lack of an appointment, Xun and his men decide to just leave. Elliot yells out interrupting the typical decorum. He demands that Shun relay back to White Rose that Elliot wants to know what is “Stage 2”?

For the second time in two different locations, the power has surged. Never goes out, but surges oddly. Brownouts. This time in the office of the Nuclear Regulatory guy. The deputy director of that department makes her entrance. She asks Angela to accompany her and speaks of the value of everyday citizens. As they walk Angela cannot help but notice the cameras. The director stops short and turns. Her demeanor is peculiar. Alarming almost. Then she asks about Angela’s employment at Evil Corp. Something she never mentioned to the previous agent.

Angela has a change of heart and rightfully so. The corridor they keep walking down gets darker and sketchier with each step. The director’s demeanor is definitely off. Angela wants out of there. Angela turns and walks away.

There was a vhs tape of Darlene speaking to the people wearing the FSociety mask. However, there is a portion of it where she removes the mask. She just realized she does not have that tape. She left it at the smart house and has convinced Cisco it must be retrieved. Something he’s really not excited about. Darlene sits back down on the couch and starts talking to Elliot. Only, Elliot is Dad, visually. Just like that, Dad still talking, Elliot appears in the chair across from him. Then Dad changes back to Elliot. Something that has now happened a couple of times in this episode.

The last thing Angela needs right now is Dom knocking on her door. Dom walks in with a bag of food she brought. Fresh off her meeting with the Nuclear Regulatory people Angela is suspicious of everyone including Dom. She asks to Dom to leave. Dom tells the story of a dream/nightmare she had as an ice breaker to tell Angela that she’s had Angela tailed and knows she’s freaking out. This is Dom’s way of leveling with Angela in a way that the next fed won’t.

Cisco foolishly enters back into the smart house and finds the tape in short order but not before hearing a sound he shouldn’t hear. Meanwhile, Darlene continues to listen to Xun’s audio feed they hacked from his cell phone. He communicates with someone, I’m inclined to think it’s White Rose based on a reference to being on time. He explains that Elliot wants to know what “Stage 2” is. The second party finds that odd as stage 2 was Elliot’s plan. While Darlene listens, White Rose asks for Xun’s phone. As if White Rose is the only one who thinks Elliot is good enough to hack the Dark Army. Then there’s a pounding on the door.

Elliot wanted to return to his place, maybe get some good sleep for once. His inner monologue on his trip home deals primarily with how he is currently accepting of the fact that he is not normal. Then he stops short before his apartment.

Elliot: How can I be normal when the SUV of the man I killed is parked in front of my apartment. Normal? I have no normal.

Elliot walks up to the SUV. The passenger window rolls down to reveal Mrs. Wellick.

We begin this week with yet another flashback. This time in a Ron’s Coffee where Mobley and Trenton meet for the first time. I won’t go into any detail but there is also a friendly debate over Android vs Apple. This has been the first time I believe the show lacks realism. But that’s a conversation for another time. Darlene arrives instead of Elliot. Instead she reads from her ‘Evil Corp’ laptop Elliot’s speech from the pilot episode about the top 1% of the top 1%.

Back to the present and we see what Mobley sees on his laptop from the end of the last episode. There is a conference call with the FBI that has their attention. Using their relatively new resources, they record the conference call the FBI did not know they had access to. The not wanting to waste the opportunity, Darlene releases an FSociety video donning the mask and playing that highly classified conference call. The FBI is illegally tapping communications of over 3 million citizens, without warrants.

Trenton posts the video while Mobley continues to listen to the call over and over. There was one little detail that Mobley can’t get past. A reference to an unnamed case where the FBI has already identified 16 suspects. It used to be 17, but one of the feds mentioned how one suspect was deceased. So naturally, Mobley’s head is focused on Romero. But there’s a much bigger more immediate problem. The owner of the house they are using as their new headquarters just walked to find four strangers in her home.

What appears to be a family friend identifies Angela in a bar. They begin to share small talk, when the family friend slowly becomes less and less cordial. Even going so far as suggest, using innuendo, that Angela has been climbing the Evil Corp corporate ladder by some means other than professional. She almost internalized the whole thing, then stops short. She turns to this ‘friend’ and calmly puts him in his place.

It didn’t take long for bad to get way worse. The owner of the home and well known Evil Corp closer is now zip-tied to a railing in her swimming pool room after clearly seeing everyone’s face. And if bad wasn’t bad enough, worse wasn’t going to be enough either. The lawyer demands the use of her own bathroom. She made a crack to Trenton about this being about ISIS, refereed to Trenton as just another animal. Then when she charged Trenton, Trenton made a move putting the lady into a brick wall…head first. In a relative moment of panic, Darlene is calm. They plan to tie her up again and take what time they have to ‘own her’.

What follows is a very difficult montage. I’m interested in Darlene, Cisco, Mobley and Trenton collectively hacking their captive. I am dramatically less interested in Angela singing Everybody Wants to Rule the World.

Darlene ventures upstairs to their new house guest armed with a tazer just in case. Darlene goes down the verbal path we would expect. We hacked your life and here’s what we have. Although, Darlene knows that stuff won’t impress this woman. She takes a linguistic u-turn and brings back to her Dad. Then looks at this woman and says, “you’ve aged well”. Darlene targeted this woman from the beginning and not just because she’s a fed. This woman seems to be the catalyst for Darlene. A woman, standing behind a sea of suits laughing as she helped get Evil Corp off the hook when Darlene was only 4.

Darlene: I took down your company, I took your home, and now I have you.
Fed Lady: So you got me. What happens next?
Darlene: I hurt you. (Darlene tazes her and she falls into the pool)

She never came out of it. As it turns out the Evil Corp lawyer had a heart condition. One it seems would be obvious to anyone not even a hacker based on the info they hacked through. There is a painful awkwardness in the air. Darlene instructs Mobley and Trenton to leave as they technically don’t need to be there. Darlene sends a message from the woman’s work laptop that she will be out of the office for the better part of three weeks. But that still leaves a floated dead woman in a pool. Darlene suggests to Cisco that they do what they always do. Wipe everything down after a hack.

Darlene and Cisco accompany Ms. Evil Corp in what looks like a large roller case onto the subway en route to their favorite incinerator. Yep, the same place where they released all the stray dogs before they could be incinerated. It doesn’t go smoothly, but Darlene and Cisco finally get their victim into the oven. During a moment of reflection, Darlene is mildly surprised that she is un-phased by what just happened.

Trenton and Mobley aren’t in their respective homes for very long before the both start recognizing strange things. Trenton’s home might be under surveillance and the Feds are actually knocking on Mobley’s door.

Mobley sits across from Dom. She lays it out. She’s going to speak and Mobley just needs to listen as he could prove to be instrumental in solving the 5/9 case. Either she has no idea who Mobley is or she knows exactly who Mobley is in the 5/9 equation. So as it turns out 13 years ago Mobley made a little Angelfire website in devotion to a ‘DJ Mobley’. Long story short, Dom knows exactly who Mobley is. Mobley closes the folder with the End of the World party flyer and responds with a single word. “Lawyer”. Not exactly necessary as Dom’s superior squashes any plans she may have had for Mobley.

Mobley gets a message out to Trenton. “We’re burned.” They attempt to meet back at the Ron’s Coffee where they first met. One problem, Trenton’s been waiting at the rendezvous point for two hours.

Darlene wakes up at Cisco’s place. He’s in the shower but his laptop is on and Darlene has to hack it. Once in, she sees a video feed of her sleeping and written in Chinese in a chat of some sort which the showrunners were nice enough to translate:

Cisco: I have her, she’s with me.
Contact: Good job with the femtocell, the backdoor is in play…Stage 2 is about to begin.

Cisco walks out of the shower and Darlene looks…off. He asks if she’s alright, then she looks down. Cisco follows suit. His laptop is on the floor in pieces. Before he could completely turn around to ask WTF? Darlene hits him in the face with a baseball bat.

Today we start with something new. The sense of something big coming. I know that sounds like nothing new. This show is full of plot twists and compelling moments. I talking about going into a show fully anticipating them to drop a bomb on us the viewers. This may have been unfounded, but it’s just a sense I have in the pit of my stomach. Is it Angela? Is Elliot vs Inner Elliot vs Dad? Last week began weird but was loaded with moments. It feels like they are building to something bigger. As I watch the cold open, I am reminded of the opening scene for this season. Was Elliot reaching for a gun in the popcorn? If so, what happened to that. Too meaningful to drop and ignore.

Mrs. Wellick walks by her kitchen clearly dressed up and stops short when she notices something on the counter. They are earrings that she immediately puts on. She’s wearing white, sitting in her white kitchen next to a white sitting room when Tyrell walks down their white stairs wearing a white suit.
The music and behavior of Price and Knowles at the function Tyrell scooped up Mrs. Wellick for suggests a dream sequence or a flashback as they mentioned Terry Colby. Yes, clearly a flashback at best. Mrs. Wellick now finds herself near home pushing the baby stroller. A random woman walks up, abruptly refers to Mrs. Wellick as a Capitalist pig and tosses a bucket of red paint at her. Mrs. Wellick screams in silence as the title screen arrives. Not the image I need, Mrs. Wellick screaming in anger. She was scary enough before this point.

The package found on the kitchen counter apparently was not the earrings. Those she already had precipitating the flashback. Mrs. Wellick stands at the kitchen counter much later, a glass of wine in hand. She looks down to see a framed ultrasound picture. Inner Elliot monologues transitioning from the Wellick ultrasound to Elliot curled up in a ball in Ray’s basement being consoled by Dad. This is where we begin to understand the title, h4shake.sme. The ‘handshake’ in the computing world relates to the first time one device is introduced to another. Computer -> Server, laptop -> router, switch -> firewall. Like the first time to people shake hands, the computing relationship begins from there.

We get a little more explanation on “Dad protecting Elliot”. When Ray’s goons went to ‘discipline’ Elliot, we never see that. We find Elliot in some sort of suspended state of realism in the 1980’s style sitcom world. When he comes out of it, Elliot is in the hospital. Dad essentially conveys that he, part of Elliot’s subconscious, only wanted to take the punches for Elliot. To protect him. The logic is that Dad was able to mentally turn the real Elliot off so he wouldn’t feel the punishment he was about to endure.

Now Elliot’s mind is starting to take inventory of itself. Has Elliot’s mind be trying to hide Tyrell this whole time? Dad wants him just to move past it. Dad caves. The last thing Elliot remembers is the popcorn. Dun, dun, duuuunnnnnnn. There is a theory floating around the fandom that no one can find Tyrell Wellick because Elliot killed him. It ties things up. Why was Tyrell at FSociety? Why did Elliot reach into the popcorn? Why have we not heard anything from Tyrell directly? Then the one contradictory issue, who is communicating with Mrs. Wellick with tokens and phone calls that seem could only come from Tyrell?

Elliot: I did it, didn’t I?
Dad: It was either him or us.
Elliot: How did I do it?

Dad paints the picture of rationalizing the death of Tyrell Wellick. He was crazy. Rambling about killing a woman. Then the popcorn. Darlene always kept a gun hidden in the popcorn. Then Dad tells the rest of the story in first person. “I didn’t want to, but I shot him”. Elliot corrects him, “No, I shot him”.

Last we saw Dom, she was back in the United States looking eye to eye with Angela. Who had just come from the restricted floor of Evil Corp where the feds had opened up shop. Angela quickly blames her suspicious behavior with ‘making plans with agent Thomas’. Dom keeps pushing. While it feels on the surface like any other woman to woman standoff for information, this one feels different. This is high noon at the OK Corral. Dom changes directions to Angela’s back story. Leaving All Safe before the hack to get a significant career bump to Evil Corp. Angela’s body language is relatively in check, but her eyes are screaming, and Dom knows it. Dom departs and Angela finishes the configuration to restore the wireless connection.

Darlene: There it is.
Angela: What?
Darlene: We own the FBI.

Dom stands over some lackey’s shoulders instructing him to pull up surveillance footage, tracking Angela’s movements one must imagine. Every time they try to pull up is corrupted data. The lackey is confused but Dom isn’t. “You just got hacked”. She instructs them to check everything including Angela’s computer, even though she knows they won’t find anything.

Elliot sits in a familiar place, at Ray’s terminal. Ray sits across from him and basically asks if Elliot has learned his lesson. Elliot confirms with a head nod and a quiet ‘yes’. Ray in no uncertain terms expresses to Elliot that he will sit there and do his work, then Elliot will go back in his hole until they are confident everything is working as it should. Side note. Maybe I’m just a fan, but I’ll be a little disappointed if Craig Robinson doesn’t at least get nominated for the John Lithgow in Dexter guest star villain award.

While this arrangement is not ideal, the status quo is unchanged as long as Ray needs Elliot’s services. Side note. Someone on Reddit is actually chronicling Elliot’s coding on the show and has created a script. This script will notify anyone interested by email if and when the static ip block used on this show ever changes from a placeholder site to anything else.

Mrs. Wellick has been pulling her little boy around with no sense of any sort of push back. Derrick wants to take things public, which she can’t and won’t do. He demands she accompany him as his girlfriend at a party or its over. She does not show. When Derrick confronts her about it, she hands him a rolled up piece of paper with a red ribbon. Its documentation showing she has begun the process to divorce Tyrell Wellick.

Meanwhile, Ray’s site of debauchery is getting more traffic than ever. The goon is about to take Elliot back down to his ‘cage’ when Elliot asks Ray for a game (of chess) for old times sake. Ray excuses his goon. For at least a moment, the friendly Ray has returned. Even lets Elliot in on his wife’s back story. The site was her idea. The subject matter wasn’t but the site idea was. Then coming back around, it was Ray’s wife that decided to take the don’t look, don’t ask approach. Let the market dictate what is sold. Ray actually never looked at what was on the site until Elliot came along. Elliot is Ray’s answer, not the other way around.

Ray: How much time do I have?
(Elliot just looks slightly confused)
Ray: Come on man, we both knew exactly what you were going to do when I let you go back on that computer.
Elliot: With their response time, I’m sure they have us surrounded by now.
(Long pause)
Ray: You better get out before they get up here then…
Inner Elliot: World Chess Champion Emanuel Lasker once said, when you see a good move, look for a better one.
Ray: Elliot…Be careful.
(Ray knocks over his king)

Elliot slowly makes his way out of Ray’s home. The faint sound of sirens can be heard. Elliot did exactly what Ray suspected he would have. But Elliot didn’t just turn him in, he opened up the traffic to anyone with the right keywords. Then sent an anonymous tip email to the FBI. In this moment, Elliot accepts that he created Mr. Robot and maybe now it can be used for other things. Good things. Or so this new ‘handshake’ might suggest.

We return from the commercial break to find the US House of Representatives preparing to vote on an Evil Corp bailout proposal. Before they can, the nuts that once belongs to the Bull of Wall Street fall from the ceiling on the House Chamber.

Angela meets with her father to explain just how she can get Evil Corp to settle. He wants no part of this conversation. She believes she has the upper hand and can get them to settle. Her father thinks they’re just using her. Even resorts to laughing in her face when she says they value her. He even goes so far to say that he doesn’t trust them or her. In the 120 second it took, this meeting of father and daughter has transitioned into Evil Corp representative and Plaintiff. Just as a courtesy of course.

Elliot sits at the playground watching a pick up game with Leon. Leon informs him that whether involved or not, everyone in the neighborhood has their eye on him. Half love him half want him dead. A group of out-of-place half frat boys, half military rejects looking fellas walk up on Elliot and suggest Leon get lost. That’s not going to happen. The leader of this rag-tag group explains how there is now a bitcoin access problem putting Elliot on the hook. Then Leon drops a ‘Sword of Damocles’ reference.

Angela walks into Price’s office proud of her accomplishment. Price speaks as if dropping the contingency is a bad thing. Angela comes back with the notion that Price asking for it was bad, but getting it is exactly what he wanted. Angela pivots to ask for a lateral move to risk management to create change from within.

Elliot returns to the church group to apologize for his outburst. The group leader is glad to hear this and goes in for a hug. It lasts longer than it should making Elliot uncomfortable. She understands, or so she thinks she does. She’s seen him “speaking to him”. She thinks he’s trying to speak to Jesus. Now unless there’s a crazy plot twist that I’m not anticipating, I’m pretty sure Dad is not going to manifest himself as Jesus. Yes, Elliot talks to him, but the him in question is not the him she thinks he is.

The woman leaves him to have a moment alone. Elliot walks up to a crucifix on the wall. Then turns to walk away stopping in the middle of the ‘trust circle’ now vacant. He begins to speak. Elliot needs to finish what he’s started with Evil Corp. Dad appears and seems legitimately shocked at this revelation. Elliot is speaking and Dad is listening. Might not be the Jesus scenario the woman envisioned, but it’s not that far off considering Elliot’s circumstances. So where do Elliot, Dad, and FSociety go from here? Elliot has to do the one thing he’s not wired to do. Lead.

Elliot goes back to the park (not smart) burns his diary in a trashcan and monologues about the destination vs the journey. Walking alone, Elliot gets scooped up by the frat boys complaining about their bitcoin access. Despite referring to Leon as something I’m not ok with, realism be damned, the group begin pounding on Elliot. They turn him around and to keep this family friendly we’ll walk away from that little detail. Then a slicing sound is heard. Then another one. One by one assailants start falling. Elliot turns to find Leon standing alone with Elliot in the alley. What follows makes this maybe the best scene by a secondary level character I’ve ever seen, all things considered.

Elliot says nothing but Leon continues to speak. His hood is up and his words carry with them a more matter of fact or business like manner. (By the way, what’s about to be revealed I just got. Like an avalanche of ‘how did you not see it earlier’ sort of way. Like watching the Sixth Sense the second time. Everything just became clear. As if the show runners just peeled back the filter translating everything we’ve seen to this point). Leon’s tone is quiet but informative. Leon tells Elliot he will receive a letter on Tuesday and to do what it says. Ominous but not crazy. What is crazy is Leon telling Elliot about White Rose.

Leon: When you see White Rose, tell him I did you solid.

Elliot did receive a letter and without ruining the reveal I’ll leave that alone except to say, the letter somehow signifies something. He doesn’t know whether to be excited about its contents or not. Even if Krista thinks it is something to be celebrated. Elliot acknowledges that Krista was right about his inner conflict. Can’t destroy a part of yourself. He did mention, when he was at his mom’s which prompts Krista to ask question.

Krista: Elliot, I need to ask you a question. Where do you think you are right now?
Elliot: What do you mean?
Krista: You know you haven’t been staying with your mother, right?
Elliot (short pause, then): I know
(Prison door alert sound is heard as Elliot looks up-the veil is removed and reality finally sets in)

Elliot sits at a table across from Krista. We are no longer in Krista’s office or Elliot’s mother’s home. Elliot is wearing an orange jumpsuit. Now take a quick journey of reflection with me. Elliot lives at his mother’s home. Yet his mother’s home is dark and simple. In his bedroom there is literally nothing but a basic bed with no frills, a desk with his journal. Every time he entertains a visitor in his mother’s home it’s at the same table. Angela, Darlene, Dad and now even Krista, the same table. That table is the visitor’s room like in a prison. His bedroom looks a lot like that of a prison cell. One is the one activity he watches every day? A pickup basketball game involving the same people at the same court. Like a prison yard. His new best friend, Leon. They eat every meal together at the same diner. Leon is cool, a little off and basically steps in any and every time Elliot is about to be confronted. Like someone put there to protect Elliot…while he’s in prison. The group of white guys complaining about bitcoins, wait until Elliot is not with Leon and jump him with the intent to sexually assault him. Yet while that is happening, Leon is not far away. When it goes down, Leon slices them all with an easily concealed knife probably not 4 inches long tip to hilt. It was a prison. The entire time, Elliot was in a prison. Whether it was his own mind protecting itself, a projection from the Dad lobe of his brain, or Elliot refusing to accept reality, he was in prison the entire time. In plain sight.

Control is an illusion, but sometimes you need the illusion to get by. Here’s the bad news. I really felt like I had a moment of realization. I unloaded all of those connections hoping you were seeing it to. Now the show runners have taken the wind out of my sails as they are literally showing the differences and truth that I just mentioned moments ago. Regardless of my experience watching this or your interpretation of it, this was probably one of my top 10 most enjoyed single episode experiences of my tv watching life. I don’t mean to oversell it. This show does a remarkable job presenting itself. This reveal was brilliant and executed exactly how it was supposed to.

We begin tonight with the single most creepy imagery we could possibly imagine as it pertains to Mr. Robot. Elliot appears to be lost in an early 90’s USA Network, TGIF like TV show. All clear-eyed and brightly lit. Seriously, I’m freaking out right now. Think Perfect Strangers or Full House. Laugh track and all. Elliot is the only one finding this scenario weird. Dad driving, Mom in the front seat and Elliot sitting next to Darlene who is wearing way too much pink for this to not seem weird. Elliot even reacts to the laugh track as if he’s the only one that hears it.

I really hope they snap this back into the proper ‘universe’ soon. The title sequence is done to the relatively likeness of Full House. One positive though, in this alternate reality, Gideon is not dead. There is a man in the trunk of the family car, so that’s at least something in the right direction. ELLIOT JUST BUMPED INTO ALF. I am so not making this up. Angela works at a gas station convenient store (an Evil Mart) and the rest of the Aldersons just came in to rob the place. The Alderson family car gets a flat tire and the charade continues until Elliot has had it.

Elliot: ENOUGH OF THIS (bleeped expletive). Tell me what’s happening. What is this?
(cop car sounds)
Dad: Whoa. That doesn’t sound good. On the plus side, I hear jumpsuits are in these days…

The fun doesn’t stop there. First commercial in the break is for Evil Corp and their new fast internet. “Our new 28k connection will have you online in minutes”, hilarious. That spot is followed by an actual Bud Light commercial from the 90’s. I’m not going to lie, I was hoping the joke would end after the first commercial break.

The investigating cop is actually Gideon, which doesn’t last long because then Alf comes out of nowhere and runs officer Gideon over. In the car again, Dad keeps up the shtick. There is a moment when Elliot gets serious and pleads for Dad to take him back (to reality). The response is the first time the elder Alderson did not seem to be in this new sitcom ‘character’. The man in the trunk escapes hopping away proclaiming himself to be a ‘business man’. Would not be surprised in the least if it was Wellick. The body runs into a backdrop and falls. Dad keeps up the notion that Elliot is seeing things with the bound man on his back on the side of the road. Then Elliot just starts cussing as if to test the bleep button’s efficiency. Before they put the business man back in the truck, Dad says,

Dad: It’ll feel good if you let it. Believing it’s real, makes it so.

Dad runs through a sitcom like monologue, but the monologue rings true to aspects of the real Mr. Robot. Pretending makes it easier, sometimes lies can help, truth is painful, etc. The message while misguided, in this reality of imagery almost works. Elliot believes this is what it looks like if Dad won. Total control, Elliot, lost in nothingness. Not really true, but it did have me for a moment. In a Sixth Sense/Matrix sort of way. The destination of the road trip was to the hospital that actual Elliot is in after the beating Ray’s goons put on him.

Dad: Nobody’s won anything Elliot. I’m just here to help you put in all in the rear view. As painlessly as possible.

A beaten, very real looking Elliot wakes in a hospital bed, complete with the Tyrion Lannister cut across the face. Without being seen yet, Ray begins to explain Maxine’s (Ray’s dog) condition. Her slowly developing need for assistance when it was never there before. An anecdote of sorts I’m sure. Ray now stands over Elliot. Bringing the anecdote to a close, Ray basically makes the connection that Elliot like Maxine was only breathing because someone else (Ray) permitted it.

Last week, Angela convinced Elliot (sort of) that her involvement with Evil Corp and the FBI is essential. So now, Darlene and the gang are trying to teach her what she’ll need to know to contribute. Its slow going. The timetable has been moved up. They need their device in Evil Corp before the feds vacate, due to the shooting at the end of last week’s episode. Teaching Angela even the basics of hacking is proving very difficult.

Cisco meets before what must be an associate of White Rose. He’s speaking in Chinese, but is the only person of a two person conversation saying anything. He’s demanding to know something. Even drops in that these are his friends of his in question. The associate stops walking away, says nothing. Cisco looks over his shoulder to see two men in Kabuki masks. Same two men possibly that Dom spotted when they arrived in China. Cisco knows the drill

Cisco: Come on man, I thought we were on the same team.
(the masked men restrain Cisco. The associate drives a needle under Cisco’s finger nail and breaks it off in there. Suggesting that all foot soldiers need to do is follow orders)

Dom sits in a superior’s office to hear the disturbing news that she is to take 6 weeks off to deal with the trauma of surviving the shooting gallery that occurred last week. She’s not buying it. She carefully recalls what happened even the part about the shooters turning their guns on themselves when they did not need to. She believes they weren’t there to wipe everyone out, they were there to disrupt only enough, that it might cause the FBI to retreat. Abandon the investigation.

Price’s plans do not seem to be holding up as he’d originally figured they would. The Speaker of the House is putting his foot down about a bailout of any kind for Evil Corp. One of his subordinates cannot deliver on a phone call of some importance and now his driver can’t even get past the protesters.

Angela finally begins to get it, with the assistance of her Tony Robbins talking to herself. When Cisco walks in. DANGER WILL ROBINSON! She recognizes him immediately. It is very awkward. Cisco was the ‘rapper’ that peddled his ‘CD’ to Ollie. Who then tried to play it in his computer, comprising himself and getting Angela involved to begin with. Darlene can feel the tension in the air. Angela shrugs it off as if she doesn’t connect the dots to Cisco.

And…welcome to the Ocean’s Eleven portion of tonight’s broadcast. Angela sits at her desk waiting for the call. A three word response, then Angela is on mission. Passing through by-standards, she makes her way to the ladies room. A quick script error occurs. Darlene directs to a new pathway, and they are back in business. Angela is stopped by an over zealous Fed. Not because she’s acting suspicious, but because he’s trying to hit on her. Once he realizes she’s not buying what he’s selling, he turns back into Mr. FBI Man. Darlene skurried in Angela’s ear to get something on this fed Angela can use. Instead of panicking, Angela throws it on in reverse. Questioning why the agent would give up so easily. He is putty in her hand.

Darlene quickly walks Angela through the schematic of setting up their device. Battery backup to power strip, Ethernet to switch, etc. Angela spends too much time with the Clorox wipes, but gets the green light from Darlene that it was a success and Angela can go celebrate. Angela doesn’t get 5 feet down the hallway when they lose the Wi-fi signal. Darlene will walk her through it from Angela’s terminal. No matter how badly Angela wants to be done with this.

Back in the hospital room, Elliot monologues to himself. He doesn’t see the goons enter or get to finish his diatribe before they whisk him out of there. They toss Elliot into a vacant basement from the looks of it, then lock the door. Elliot doesn’t move. Stays huddled in a ball on the floor when Dad appears.

Dad: Before you get all bent out of shape, all I was trying to do was take those punches for you.
(Elliot lunges, not to strike but to cling to his dead father)
Elliot (trembling voice): Thank you.

At her desk, Angela begins to follow very specific instructions from Darlene. This will include coding which Angela has already not shown an aptitude for. Despite the office traffic walking behind her, she pushes through. She is literally about to hit the enter key when a voice calls to her. Its Dom. Judging by Angela’s look, Dom invites Angela to ‘finish her call’ that she’s not on. Or at least not a conventional call that a fed would encourage the mark to finish first.

There is a flashback to what appears to be the actual past. Dad driving Elliot home with a big shiner on his cheek. Calmly talking with no response from Elliot. Clearly he’s been in a fight and doesn’t want to talk about it. Dad redirects. Tells a story about his supervisor reading off a series of dates which are the precursor to the termination of Dad’s employment contract. The dates corresponded to doctor visits. This is when Dad shares his little ‘health’ secret with Elliot that was a significant story line in season 1. The concept is not new information, the rhetoric is however.

Dad: Come on kiddo, the world’s not getting rid of me that easily. I’m going to be ok. I’m never going to leave you. Promise.

Dad attempts to change direction. Explains that he’s driving Elliot to the location of his new gig. He’s opening a computer store. This news brightens young Elliot’s mood considerably. Not to be outdone by the moment, Dad offers to let Elliot name the new business. There’s a long period of Elliot’s reaction to his news, and he loves it. Then the weight of the responsibility of naming the store. Dad helps out by suggesting he just blurt out the first thing that pops into his head upon seeing the store front. The first thing that pops into young Elliot’s head. There is a long pause of Elliot with his eyes closed. He gasps and opens his eyes. Credits.